Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco made the regional cover of this week's Sports Illustrated after outplaying Peyton Manning in last Saturday's electrifying AFC divisional round game in Denver. Before the game, Flacco earned an even greater mark of distinction.

Retiring linebacker Ray Lewis told Flacco, “You're the General now. Lead us to victory.”

The “General” title has belonged to Lewis for the last 17 years.

“Any time somebody like that comes up to you — a leader like that — a guy that's had so much success in this league and is loved by so many people,” Flacco said, “it's obviously pretty cool.”

Flacco followed what may be one of Lewis' final orders, leading the Ravens past the Broncos, 38-35 in double overtime, by throwing for 331 yards and three touchdowns, including the tying 70-yard heave to Jacoby Jones in the closing seconds of regulation.

“I think playing quarterback there's a lot on you,” Patriots safety Devin McCourty said Thursday, “and I think he does a good job. When you see a guy make plays like he made last week, to make that play down the field, I think that's big and he's clutch and he makes plays for them.”

The 27-year-old Flacco will play in his third AFC Championship when the Ravens come to Gillette Stadium for Sunday's conference title rematch against the Patriots.

Flacco hasn't quite cracked the “elite” level occupied by QBs like Tom Brady, Manning and Aaron Rodgers, but he's coming off a regular season during which he set career highs for completions (317) and yards (3,817), and continued to show off his arm strength with 41 pass plays of 25 or more yards, which ranked second in the league behind Saints quarterback Drew Brees (47).

Having speedy and talented receivers Jones, Torrey Smith and veteran Anquan Boldin has certainly helped on some of those long balls, which Flacco has successfully kept hoisting in the playoffs. Against the Broncos, he completed touchdown throws of 59 and 32 yards to Smith, and in Baltimore's wild-card win over the Colts, Boldin was on the receiving end of 50- and 46-yard completions.

In fact, seven of Flacco's 12 completions against Indianapolis went for at least 20 yards.

“I think Joe is able to make any throw on the field,” Boldin said. “Talk about making big-time throws, the deep ball, he does it all.”

The Patriots, who gave up a league-high 67 pass plays of 20 or more yards this year, know all about Flacco's arm.

In the Ravens' 31-30 win over the Patriots in September, Flacco completed eight passes of 20-plus yards, including a 25-yard TD throw to Smith.

Allowing the deep ball was a major issue for the Patriots' secondary the first half of the season. The November acquisition of cornerback Aqib Talib, which allowed McCourty to move to safety, helped steady New England's defensive backfield. The Patriots allowed 43 long pass plays in the nine games before Talib's arrival, 24 in the seven games after he was inserted in the lineup and McCourty shifted to safety.

“As secondary players,” McCourty said, “we have to realize it's our job to take away those deep passes. We can't allow them to just throw the ball over our heads. All of us have to have that mentality. The biggest thing is understanding how strong Flacco's arm is because we already know how fast some of their receivers are, so it's just being aware and making plays down the field.”

Flacco, who is in the final year of his contract, is the only starting quarterback in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons. In the Ravens' last six playoff games, Flacco is 107 of 184 for 1,485 yards, 12 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a 101.4 rating. He played well in last year's AFC title game here, completing 22 of 36 attempts for 306 yards and a pair of TDs.

“No,” Flacco said when asked if he elevates his play in big games, “I don't really think so. You go out there and you play to win the football game and some of the things that have been required to win these football games have maybe been a little bit over the top and a little abnormal, but no. I would like to think that I go out there and play consistently and approach everything the same way. I think that's been proved out. We win a lot of football games around here. Who knows what it's going to take to win on Sunday, but our mind-set is it's going to take our best, and we're ready to go give it.”

Flacco has not thrown an interception since Week 15. Flacco has five career road wins in the playoffs, tying the Giants' Eli Manning for the most in NFL postseason history. Included in that total is a victory at Gillette Stadium in the 2009 wild-card round.

“You put everything aside,” Ravens running back Ray Rice said, “Joe Flacco is playing lights out right now. We are riding him. It's our job as a collective offense to keep this thing going. Everybody has a job. His job, obviously, is the hardest on the field as the General, but we have all been taking parts, bits and pieces and going out there and executing. Ray Lewis said it right — (Flacco) is the General. That's a lot of responsibility, but he's definitely taking it. He's taken it and ran with it, and he's doing a great job.”

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